Continued
from previous post -
Gregory
the Great: AD 590-604
Gregory
I, in the late 6th century, reveals in a similar way the future
direction of Rome and of the papacy. It can be seen in two
significant events. In 592, two years after his election as pope, the
Lombards
are at the gates of Rome;
Gregory accepts papal responsibility for the city negotiates with the
barbarians and persuades them to withdraw (admittedly at the price of
an annual tribute). Four years later in 596, he dispatches a mission
of forty men to England.
Like Gregory himself, until his election as pope, these missionaries
were monks.
The mission of these monks was to develop in the minds of barbarians
the fear for the unknown, which gradually culminate into submission
to god. The method proved very successful in England and other
places. Second strategy they used is to offer promises to those who
have submitted to God of Christianity. This is called indulgence.
Promises of great life in heaven and many others those could attract
the gullible masses. It was a psychological strategy to win over
physically strong but intellectually void vandals and barbarians.
Without use of any arms and fights, they slowly put fear in the minds
of these strong people, which did the subsequent changes in the
mindset of these people. Finally, those monks converted them to
Christianity (of Pope and not of Jesus!). This modus operandi Church
continued to use in other places also with grand success. Thus,
worldly ruler of Rome, using monastic establishments to spread
spiritual rule throughout Europe - the pattern for the medieval
papacy was established in place.
Some
political activity was also seen in favor of Pope Gregory I, II and
III,
The
Duchy of Rome was a Byzantine district in the Exarchate of Ravenna,
ruled by an imperial functionary with the title dux. Within the
exarchate, the two chief districts were the country about Ravenna
where the Exarch was the centre of Byzantine opposition to the
Lombards, and the Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Latium
north of the Tiber and of Campania to the south as far as the
Garigliano. There the pope himself was the soul of the opposition.
The
pains were taken, as long as possible, to retain control of the
intervening districts and with them communication over the Apennine
mountains. In 728, the Lombard King Liutprand took the Castle of
Sutri, on the road to Perugia, but restored it to Pope Gregory II "as
a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul". The popes
continued to acknowledge the imperial Government.
In
738, the Lombard duke Transamund of Spoleto captured the Castle of
Gallese, which protected the road to Perugia. By a large payment,
Pope Gregory III induced the duke to restore the castle to him.
Missions
to Frisia and Germany: 690-754
The
careers of two great Anglo-Saxon missionaries, Willibrord and
Boniface, are an indication of the value to the papacy of two recent
successes: - the acceptance of the authority of the pope in England,
at the synod of
Whitby
in 664; and the
developing alliance between Rome and the Carolingian rulers of the
Frankish kingdoms.
Anglo-Saxon England is the most sophisticated Christian region of "northern Europe". The Carolingian are the most powerful rulers in the area. Collaboration between English missionaries and Frankish empire-builders is a development eagerly encouraged by Rome. Papal power began to take active interest in the political affairs of European nations to get hold on the people of those nations subsequently to convert them to Papal Christianity. Pope along with religious authority began to hold political authority also over European kings. Popes used god as a tool to spread their authority. As such, no king could challenge it.
Continues
in the next post -
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